May I have some headcanons of male!reader comforting Maxim after they had to go through the repeated horrors of R Corp?
Sure thing, R Corp sure is something else. The whole concept of hatcheries is interesting, and I hope to get expanded on more in the future. Also these came out a bit on the angstier side just cause R Corp is (in my opinion) one of the more disturbing corporations. The reader is intended to be male but for anyone else reading you should still be able to enjoy it anyways.
Male!Reader Comforting Maxim Through R Corp Trauma:
On the surface it’s easy to interpret that Maxim is the type of guy who’s not impacted at all by the violent cycles of cloning in R Corp. I mean, he seems to be pretty unbothered by it, even making lighthearted comments and betting on who will be victorious coming out of his colleague’s cloning sessions.
But it does affect him greatly, whether he really acknowledges it or not. It might come in brief sessions where he’s going about his day as he usually would, and the reality of this vicious process hits him. Death may not be a fear anymore, that is until the hatcheries run out of energy, but is that truly something to be glad about?
An eternal life seems like an incredibly powerful feature, but could you even begin to consider this ‘eternal’ life? You die, and a clone fulfills your spot. Does that really seem like a single lifetime?
While he seems to keep quiet about these moments where things seem to settle in, that’s not always a choice for him. You can tell something is off when he doesn’t seem as lively as before, instead a sort of dazed look overtaking his face.
He might be a bit unresponsive, stuck inside his mind, though if you ask he’ll often say he’s alright. It will take a bit of insisting to get him to talk to you, because chances are he doesn’t really feel ready to dredge up the truth yet.
If you can find yourself in a quiet area away from people though, he’ll drop the act and tell you his thoughts and experiences on really everything. He doesn’t break down or get overly emotional, but you can tell there’s a bit of a struggle to his words and hesitation to speak.
He’ll talk about how he came to this job, not understanding fully what he’d be getting himself into. Now, working in a nest is a dream for many, especially when it has to do with a wing, but you truly aren’t aware of what you’re getting yourself in until it’s too late. It’s not as simple as just quitting. You’ve already been hired for the job, exposed to the secrets and horrors, and it’s not like you can just walk out.
Perhaps it was just being blindly optimistic, but he hadn’t expected it to be too bad. It never really was revealed to the public just how R Corp maintains a steady force of expendable soldiers, but some did suspect cloning. Only issue is that cloning was directly against the head’s law, so it left many stumped.
Maybe he had an idea that it might be like cloning, maybe not. Point is, he had no clue that he’d have to be competing with so many other versions of himself. Forced to survive for however long the process of hatchery was able to go, feasting on copies of himself for food, and being forced to kill until you come out on top.
It’s honestly a terrifying experience. You stare into the eyes of a clone who’s dying as they lose consciousness, and it goes black. That could have been him. The other versions of him are still sentient, they don’t share memories, they don’t share consciousness, which means when he dies he may truly die.
Of course, he’ll come back out of a hatchery a bit later, remembering the past events and moving on as though it’s just like waking up. But is that really him? Is that version of him the same person, the same consciousness as the one who’s sitting next to you right now?
It’s honestly a disturbing concept to think about, one that he doesn’t want to know the answer to. Even though it’s most likely he won’t, some form of hope deep inside hopes that it’s just like waking up in a dream to a new life. A reincarnation of sorts, maybe.
There’s not really much you can do aside from offer your support and listening for this subject. It’s not like you could change something, aside from giving your full attention and maybe holding onto his hand or similar.
…Depending if he’s in the suit or not, if he is offering physical affection is probably going to be a bit more difficult to do. Especially when his hands in the armor are like twice the size of your head.
Don’t diminish his hope though. Even if it might be feeding into a false reality, it’s not as though it’s harming anyone but rather letting someone live a more peaceful life, even if slightly.
He’s honestly a bit frustrated too, but he doesn’t react in an angry way, you can just hear the strain in his voice. It feels a bit demeaning to be treated like livestock, I mean the places they come from are literally called hatcheries. Doesn’t it seem quite animalistic? You’d think perhaps it would be a bit more refined if it was part of a wing.
But it’s not even like he can complain about it, no one would listen. While not super common of an event given the lack of energy since the fall of L corp, if his complaints caused too much trouble he may even be deemed as defective and replaced by a different clone.
It doesn’t really help that there’s the looming warning of R Corp essentially pulling the plug to Fourth Pack, resulting in permanent death. Perhaps it was a bit pretentious to be scared of the possibility of a true end when so many citizens of the city face that risk every day, but that didn’t lessen the terror.
It’s a long rant of emotions, one that you usually sit through pretty silently. It’s hard to comment on advice when there isn’t really a solution, but at the very least you can try to make things better at the moment.
Perhaps you can relate to his turmoil if you’re one of the members of the Fourth Pack, or some other pack yourself. It might be good to empathize and let him know that he isn’t the only person to think about it, honestly at some point any employee likely has.
Let him know once he’s calmed down a bit more that you’re here right now, and it’s better to focus on the present than linger and worry about the unchangeable future.
When cloning gives you a sort of loophole to life, everything can sort of blend together and you start to lack an appreciation for the casual pleasantries of life. However moments like these might help you gain those back.
What matters is that you’re here with him now, right? Why not enjoy things while you can. Maybe it’s naive, maybe it’s carefree, but what else can you do? Have fun, go out to places, try things you haven’t before.
Take him out to go eat some place, drag him around the nest, have competitions, make bets. Even if they’re fleeting moments, they add some form of normality back into your lives. And truthfully if he’s having fun with you, it’s a lot easier to be optimistic, and the moments feel like they last a lot longer.
Before he even realizes it he’ll be feeling better, mind no longer focusing on the anxieties he had earlier. It may not be the most healthy method of comforting, but it’s the best you got and you’re going to take it.